McDonald's to open vegetarian restaurants in India

NEW YORK (AP) - McDonald's Corp., the fast food chain that brought the beef hamburger to the world, is opening its first company-operated vegetarian-only restaurants.

The world's biggest hamburger chain says the locations in India will serve only vegetarian food because of customer preferences in the region. The company could not immediately say when the restaurants would open or how many there would be.

McDonald's says its kitchens in India are already separated into sections for cooking vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and restaurants there do not sell any beef or pork.

They also have menu items that cater to local tastes, such as the Maharaja Mac, which is a Big Mac made with chicken patties.

McDonald's says local franchises in India and other regions may already serve only vegetarian food.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)